Escapades: Candle Friends
by kairi's friend
Summary: Though people think of Candlehead as a ditz, she still understands insults and can be hurt by them (thanks, Gene). And Candle Jack is more creepy than friendly. But what happens when these two meet? This is a Halloween one-shot inspired by a random idea I had.


**A/N: This Halloween one-shot is both a trick and a treat! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. _Wreck-It Ralph_ belongs to Disney, and _Freakazoid _belongs to WB.**

While everyone smiles and laughs as they chat amongst themselves, Candlehead slips silently down the hallway with a plate of pie. "The party isn't that fun anyways," she says to herself. Upon hearing her own voice, she freezes and peeks over her shoulder. No one stands in the doorway staring at her. No one inside the room remarks about how silly and ditsy she is. Good.

She turns away from the blue double doors leading into the Nicelanders' penthouse and shuffles down the hallway. "Am I really that stupid?" Candlehead whispers aloud, looking down at her apple pie. Now that she gets a good look at it, it is a bigger slice than one would normally cut. Sigh. "Maybe Gene was right." The very memory of that encounter makes her bite her lip and wipe her eyes dry with one hand. One thing about being alone is no one can see you cry or tease you about it.

Candlehead slips into the first room she finds, shuts the door and leans against it so no one can come in. The room is dark, the only light coming from the screen's glow outside and her candle's flame. Suddenly, she's not so hungry, and she sets her plate of pie next to her. Hugging her knees to her chest, she buries her face in her pink polka-dotted, brown leggings and cries. "Why do I have to be so stupid?" she wails. "Why can't I be smart like everyone else?"

"_You silly girl_," she hears Gene's voice in her head. "_You will never change. It's in your programming._" That was one of the last things he said to her before returning to the anniversary party.

Sniffling, she lifts her head and wipes her face with her hands. "C'mon, Candlehead," she tells herself. "Get a hold of yourself. You can't change, so might as well..." Her voice trails off. If only her friends were here, they would say something encouraging.

Or would they? She remembers Taffyta and Rancis laughing at something last week, but though they kept looking back at her they never told her what they were talking about. Another time, she'd spotted Vanellope hurrying to her mishmash kart and asked if the president wanted to play with her that day - to which Vanellope said, "I don't have time for any stupid games! I gotta go see Kairi!" And yesterday, when everyone was working on what to bring to Fix-It Felix, Jr.'s anniversary party, she suggested to King Candy that they could bring a really huge cake. He'd chuckled, patted her on the head, and said, "Silly girl. They already provide cake. Hoo hoo!"

Is that really how everyone sees her? Stupid? Silly? Someone to make fun of? _Maybe I don't have as many real friends as I thought_, she thinks. "I wish I had a real friend."

The flame atop her candle hat flickers brighter, and she straightens as her green eyes gleam. "I can make up my own friend!" she says aloud, not caring if anyone hears her. She claps her hands. "Yeah, I'll just pretend that I have a friend who likes my jokes and thinks I'm fun and wants to do stuff with me!"

She grins as she arranges the table nearby to accommodate two people. She giggles as she hurries to the door and says, "Well, hello, my new friend." She links arms with the air and, walking to the table, says, "Oh, what a lovely candle you have. You like mine, too? Aw, thanks." A pang hits her heart, as she knows she's talking to nobody, but it's better than being around people who think you're a joke. She sits her "friend" down in one chair and sits in the other, frowning at her huge slice of apple pie in the middle of the table. _Hmmm, you need a name, huh?_ she thinks. She wishes Sticky were here; the teal recolor is not only caring, she's also creative. She could come up with a really good name for Candlehead's imaginary friend. "Um, how about I call you...Candle Fred?" She makes a face, shaking her head. "Nah, too much like my name." She puts a hand to her chin and thinks harder. "Candle...Candle..." Her green eyes light up when she thinks of the perfect name for her new friend. "Candle Jack!"

"Hello, little girl," hisses a low voice.

Candlehead jumps and turns to see someone a couple feet away from her holding a coiled rope in one gloved hand and a candle holder in the other, the candle's flame illuminating more of the room. Her eyes bug out and she scoots her chair backwards. "Wh-Who are you?" she says.

The figure floats closer to her, its white eyes never blinking, its stitched mouth never opening as it says, "You said my name, didn't you?"

The racer shakes her head. "No."

"Forgive me," the figure says, floating backwards and tilting its sack-like head, its blank eyes seeming to stare into her soul. His smile falls into a frown. "I thought you said Candle Jack."

"Oh, I did," she says. "My friend's, um, name is Candle Jack."

"Friend?" the figure, Candle Jack, says in a raspy tone. "But you're all alone."

Candlehead's heart stops pounding, but her stomach turns when she remembers why she left the party in the first place. Slouching in her seat, her eyes downcast, she admits, "Everyone thinks I'm a joke, so I left the party and made up my own friend to play and have pie with."

"Pie?" Candle Jack perks up and floats closer to the table, his smile stretching across half of his head. He lowers a hand so the light from his candle can show the huge slice. "Why, I love pie!"

"Me too!" she says with a smile. "I also really like cake."

"I prefer pie."

"Would you like some of mine?" She picks up the plate and holds it up. "I got too big of a piece anyways." Her smile falls, and she frowns at the plate.

"What's wrong?" he says.

"Nothing," she mumbles, lowering the plate on the table. "It's just something silly. You wouldn't wanna hear it." She stares at her lap, biting her lip and blinking a few times.

She doesn't flinch when Candle Jack's gloved hand rests on her shoulder. "It's alright. You probably wouldn't want to tell me anyways." He floats over to the other chair and lowers himself onto the seat. "I'm a bogeyman. People don't particularly trust me."

"Why not?" she blurts out, looking back up. "Just because you look creepy, and your mouth doesn't open when you talk, and you always carry that candle...Where was I going with this?"

He raises a hand to dismiss the thought. "Don't worry. Let's just eat. I haven't had pie in months."

"Here." She pushes the whole plate over to him. "I'm not that hungry." Again, she bites her lip - but it still trembles. Her eyes glisten from the light of the two candles.

Candle Jack frowns. He shouldn't care what a child thinks - he's kidnapped plenty in the past without giving a second thought to their feelings. But there's something about this little girl that makes him wonder. Maybe because she has a candle, too? Maybe because she seems so adorably naive? Maybe because she's lonely, like him?

He decides to leave the rope coiled on the floor and sets his candle in the middle of the table. _Ooh, that pie looks good_, he thinks. _And it's apple, my favorite_. His gloved hands hover over the pie before he takes the fork and cuts the quarter-sized slice down the middle. He reaches to grab his half - wait! The little girl might look up and see him eating! He can't let anyone watch him eat. How's he supposed to explain how his mouth is stitched shut the whole time and yet he can still eat? "One moment," he says, grabbing the pie and turning around, hunching over more than usual to make sure she can't see anything.

Once he devours the pie, he swivels back around. The green-haired girl still looks like she's about to cry. He pushes the other pie half towards her. "You should eat, too," he says.

"I'm not hungry," she says, her voice cracking. "He ruined my appetite."

"Who did?"

Sniff. "Gene. He said I took way too big of a piece, and when I told him I never cut a piece for myself before, he just scoffed and said how no one should trust a silly little girl with anything." She squeezes her eyes shut, but hot, fat tears roll down her pink cheeks. "I said I wasn't trying to be silly, but he said I'm like that all the time, just a stupid little girl who goes along with what anyone says and that I come up with silly, simple ideas. I don't wanna be the stupid, silly girl no one likes, but Gene said I'll never change, that I'm programmed like that forever." Candlehead rubs her eyes with her fists, sniffling some more. "I-I wanted to t-talk to someone about it, but I remembered how they were looking at me and laughing and not telling me what they were laughing at, and how President Vanellope didn't have time for playing stupid games with me, and King Candy said that they'd already have cake and that my idea was silly, and...and..." She doesn't finish, as she's sobbing hard into her hands.

_What the heck should I do?_ he wonders. He takes people who say his name, not comfort them. Then again, whenever he has to charter a bus, sometimes he has to break up a fight and say something nice to calm people down. "I don't think you're stupid, little girl," he says. "I think you're clever. I doubt any of your 'friends' would've thought to have some pie around them if they ever said my name."

Sniff. "What do you mean?" she whines, glancing up at him with shiny green eyes.

"There's a legend about me." Candle Jack picks up his chair, floats closer to her, and sets it down before taking a seat. "If anyone says my name, I tie them up and take them away."

"Why do you do that?"

"Some say I'm a nut. Others think that I kill the people I take." He tilts his head down. "But really, I'm just lonely."

Candlehead should've panicked when she heard the rumor of Candle Jack killing people, but it didn't even cross her mind. Instead, she dries her face with her sleeve and looks up at him. "Why are you lonely?"

"I'm the only one of my kind, so I'm a bit of an outsider. No one wants me around. They just point at me and scream."

"Kinda like what we used to do to Vanellope," Candlehead says. "King Can- I mean, Turbo told us she was a glitch and we couldn't let her anywhere near us or our game would get unplugged. But when we found out she wasn't a glitch, she forgave us all, and now we're friends." She smiles.

He cocks his head. "Hmm, I don't think apologizing to anyone would help me."

"Oh, we didn't-" She stops herself short. Was she really about to say they didn't apologize? She thinks back to that fateful day more than a year ago - she remembers Taffyta saying sorry, but Rancis said all the bad stuff they did were just jokes, and she blamed Taffyta for telling her to do bad stuff, and everyone else was silent. Taffyta was the only one who said sorry.

She growls and slaps her hands over her eyes. "Gah! How could I have been so stupid? Only Taffyta apologized! I really am just a-"

"Don't say it," Candle Jack hisses, pressing his hand against her mouth so suddenly she squeaks and uncovers her eyes to stare at him. "The more you say it, the more you'll believe it. You are not stupid. Seems to me like you just made mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Heck, I once went after a whole pumpkin pie even though I knew it was in a cage and I would be trapped."

She giggles a little from behind his hand.

Candle Jack withdraws his hand and continues, "Don't dwell on the past, because there's nothing you can do to change it. What you can do is learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them."

The racer nods. "Did you learn from your cage mistake?" she smirks.

Grinning, he narrows his eyes. "Yes, I did. I played pranks on Freakazoid for a whole month after that." His shoulders shake as he snickers. "He still won't go in the laundry room to this day."

Candlehead giggles. "That sounds silly. I wish I could've seen it."

His eyes soften, his mouth falls into a pensive line. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, the next time I play a prank on someone or capture them, I'll let you tag along."

"Okay, as long as it's not when I'm racing."

"They let little kids race here?" Candle Jack grabs his candle and the rope off the floor.

She laughs as if he said something funny. "Of course they do. Why else would kids be in a racing video game?"

"Video game?" he echoes. "You mean video games are alive?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting." He tilts his head and puts a hand to his pointy chin. "I never knew games were alive, or that one could go inside them."

"Mmhmm. But please don't take anybody here," she quickly adds. "Without the main characters, the games will be put out of order and unplugged!"

"Candlehead?" Vanellope's muffled voice calls. Both figures turn towards the door as it opens - revealing Vanellope, Felix, and Gene. The three stare wide-eyed at the bogeyman. "Candlehead, who's that?"

"Your name is Candlehead?" Candle Jack asks, turning to the girl.

"His mouth didn't move!" Felix cries, a hand to his mouth.

Candlehead smiles, holds her hands out as if presenting Candle Jack, and says, "This is my new friend. He likes pie, and he's lots of fun, and he's sometimes lonely, but-"

"I don't think the guy appreciates having his whole story blurted out to the whole world," Gene snaps, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

Frowning, she says, "I didn't think he-"

"Exactly, you don't think!"

"Gene!" Felix gasps as Vanellope glares at him and Candlehead stares at the floor.

"So, that fat dwarf is Gene," Candle Jack says, his mouth curling into a smile.

"What did you just call me, freak?" Gene steps into the room, but he doesn't come any closer.

"My name is not 'freak." He floats closer to Candlehead and rests a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. "And Candlehead, as you call her, is not as dumb as you say she is. Why, she's the only one clever enough to have pie on hand when they say my name. And it was apple, my favorite." He grins at her, and she smiles back.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gene grumbles.

"You're not supposed to say his name," Candlehead explains, "or he'll take you away."

Candle Jack pats the girl's shoulder a couple times. "But don't worry. I won't take you away."

"Even if I accidentally say your name?" she asks him, momentarily forgetting the others in the room.

He nods. "You just wanted a friend. I can't blame you for giving your imaginary friend the same name as me. Besides-" he taps the side of her candle, "-you like candles as much as I do."

She giggles, throwing her arms around his soft body and squeezing him like a teddy bear. "Thanks, Candle Jack."

Gene snorts. "What kind of a name is 'Candle Jack?'"

"Is he a main character?" the bogeyman asks.

"No," Candlehead says.

In a blink, he stands right next to a tied-up Gene. Everybody gasps, including the Nicelander himself. "That should teach you to pick on little girls." He tightens the rope.

"Let me go!" Gene struggles to break free.

Candle Jack crosses his arms. "You're not a main character, so I don't think the video game will be put out of order if you don't show up." One hand on the grumbling mayor, he looks back at the racer. "If you ever need me, Candlehead, just call my name. And don't forget to save me some pie!" His last words echo in the air as he and Gene disappear.

"I like that guy," Candlehead says. "He's cool."

"Yeah, but kinda creepy," Vanellope says, joining her friend. "What happened? You just left the party and no one could find you."

The green-haired girl shrugs. "Gene was being mean, and then I thought you guys didn't like me because I'm a silly little girl, and-"

"Aw, c'mon," Vanellope says. "Everyone in Sugar Rush is silly. My dad talks with a lisp and has a goofy laugh, Rancis checks himself in every mirror and window he passes, and don't even get me started on sourpuss."

That makes Candlehead laugh. "Yeah, Sour Bill's the moodiest gumball I've ever seen."

Vanellope slips an arm around Candlehead's shoulders and walks back towards the door. "So, don't pay attention to Mister Mustachio - also because he's not here to bother you anymore."

"You can also come to me or Ralph," Felix offers, smiling. "I know I love having guests over."

"See? Now, c'mon. Let's get you back to the party."

"Okay. Oh, and Vanellope? I'm sorry for being mean to you as a glitch."

The president waves her hand. "Don't worry about it. I know Turbo told you all to do that stuff. Besides, you could never be as mean as Gene."

Candlehead giggles as they reenter the penthouse. She enjoys herself for the rest of the party, forgetting all the mean things Gene said. When the party winds down, she has Mary cut her a small slice of apple pie and she carries it back to the dark room. "Candle Jack? Are you here?"

"Need me so soon?" his raspy voice says as he appears in front of her.

"I wanted to say thanks." She holds out the plate and fork with a grin. "I saved you some pie, like you said."

He smiles kindly at her. "Why, thank you," he says, accepting the plate.

"Candlehead!" Sticky calls out. Candlehead pokes her head out the door. "We're heading back to Sugar Rush!"

"Okay! Be there in a sec!" She ducks back into the room - but Candle Jack is gone. She searches the whole room, but doesn't dare say his name out loud. She doesn't have any pie or cake or anything. What if he decides to take her away? After a few minutes of finding nothing, she slouches and turns to leave.

On the table still set for two, there's a note. She goes over to it, picks it up, and reads it. She grins, turns to the emptiness of the room, and says, "Bye!" She then hurries to catch up with the other racers.

Everyone yawns on the train ride home, except for Candlehead. "Did you have a good time, my dear?" King Candy asks her.

"I did," she says. At the rainbow path, everyone parts and heads to his or her home to sleep. Candlehead curls up in her bed with the note. Before she sets it on the nightstand and drifts off into sleep, she reads the note one more time:

"Thanks for the pie. You're a sweet girl. Let me know when your races are, and I might come watch, or play a game or two, if that's possible. Don't forget: you're a clever girl. Show them what you can do. Until next time, My Candle Friend."


End file.
